… to see if it might help England win them back before the turn of the next century:
The Ashes urn, the potent symbol of cricket’s most famous challenge, is finally to be allowed by the MCC to make the 12,000-mile journey to Australia…
…..
There is an overriding reason to let the Australians keep it. As [Australian PM John] Howard said while England took a trouncing in 2002-03: “I ask our English friends to look at it this way: if the urn were to come to Australia, that would give them a much greater incentive to get it back.”
The incentive is already as great as it can be, surely. Australia, to England cricket and its supporters, is like – how can I put this tactfully? – well, like Manchester United to the supporters of certain other football clubs.